The Sky Is Falling And I'm Your Shield
by Eternal Love Song
Summary: Bakugo and Mina get trapped in a crumbling building and he uses his body to protect her from the rubble.


"Fuck!" Bakugo grunted, eyes squeezing tightly closed. His voice was hoarse from yelling and his arms were shaking from where he struggled to hold his weight up above her. She could see the sweat gathering on his forehead. The sight was usually a comfort to her when they were in tight situations, more sweat meant more power and bigger explosions after all, but this time it only had the opposite effect, reminder her of how strained he was and how dire the situation really was. Explosions wouldn't help them right now and Bakugo being strained meant that they were running out of time.

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. She was laying on the ground, her body curled in on itself as she tried to take shelter beneath him. There were pebbles digging into her sides, but she didn't have the time to try and brush them all away.

"Stop staring at me, Pinky," he ordered.

She frowned. They didn't have time for this, for her to be worriedly studying his face, for him to be exchanging banter with her, but they were doing it anyway. He could hardly stop himself from baiting her and she had rarely bothered trying to take the high road. The high road was no fun.

"I'm just making sure you aren't going to give up on me," she said as she turned away. "Don't think I didn't notice your arms trembling." She pulled herself carefully forward, pressing her hands to the rubble in front of them and carefully burning a hole into the wall.

"Fuck you, Pinky!" He growled at her. "I could do this for days."

He sucked in a breath as more rubble fell down on him, trying to suppress the pained sound that he wanted to make. Mina winced in sympathy. When the building had half collapsed on them, they'd come to the conclusion that Mina's powers were their best bet of trying to rescue themselves. An explosion would just make everything worse and was too hard to control in an already unstable situation. Mina could use her acid more carefully and hopefully melt them a way out.

When the rubble as started to fall, Bakugo had thrown himself over her immediately, shielding her with his body from the rocks above them. It was too small a space, and too dangerous besides, to try to blow them up. And Mina was their way out, so of course she had no choice but to grit her teeth and accept the situation. She was afraid of the moment something fell that was too big for him to handle. Afraid of something colliding with his head. There were so many ways that this could go wrong and she tried her best not to think of them.

"What would the others say?" Mina asked as she pulled herself forward, pushing more acid into the wall. She had to be careful, had to make sure not to create a hole in the wrong place. She had to go fast, but not so fast that she made a mistake. Falling into old habits was the only thing that made her feel like this was normal. "You're always bragging about how strong you are and yet here you are about to collapse after only a few minutes."

"Next time someone drops a building on us, I'll be sure to let you catch it," he told her. He was starting to breath heavily, but he still found enough air to add, "You'll owe me after this, you know?"

"And what will I owe you?" She asked. She was pretty sure she was starting to see light. The hole needed to be bigger though, big enough for them both to squeeze through. She wished that she could rush this, was too afraid that she'd get them both squished if she did.

"A date."

"What?" Mina turned her head to look at him with wide eyes. They had been working together at the same agency since they graduated and everyone joked about how close they seemed, but she'd never thought...she never thought he'd though so, too.

Bakugo grinned at her, tired and pained, but still finding the energy to smile. "Don't get distracted, idiot."

"Idiot!" she yelled. Mina could feel the heat flooding to her cheeks and just new she was blushing. Now was not the time to be flustered and embarrassed over a boy! Then again, maybe now was the only time... No. No, she wouldn't let herself think that way. She forced herself to look away from him and focused on her task. "Don't distract me if you don't want me distracted."

Bakugo laughed, which quickly turned into a cough as something struck him in the middle of his back. "So you gonna answer me?"

"One condition," she said without turning to look at him again.

"And what would that be?"

"You have to live," she told him. "I refuse to go out with a ghost."

"Man, I didn't think you'd have such high standards," he said.

"Is this how you ask out all your dates?"

"It's a stupid condition," he told her. "You really think something like this would kill me?"

Mina didn't answer. Bakugo had already gone from standing up to being on his knees. She wasn't sure how much more he could take, but they were so close! So very close! She wasn't going to stop until she saw him bandaged by Yaomomo or healed by Recovery Girl or whoever else was ready and available. "You'd better not. What would the others think if I told them the guy I like can't even hold up a building. Lame."

"Say that to my face, Pinky..." His voice was weak, trembling. "I'll kill you."

"I'd rather you than the building," she mumbled. "We're almost out!" she exclaimed as she took a breath of fresh air. "I just need to make the hole bigger."

"Good." She could hear the strain of his breathing, the groaning of the rubble. This was the worst silence in history, she was pretty sure. "I wouldn't let some dumb building kill you, anyway." She felt his weight fall onto her as he collapsed.

"I swear I'm gonna get you out of here, Bakugo!" she yelled as she poured all she could into making her acid. Maybe she was throwing caution to the wind at this point, but they needed to be out of here like yesterday!

"I know... I trust you..."

He didn't say anything else and neither did she until she was able to pull them both through the small opening and into the open air. "Someone help us!" she yelled. Mina felt halfway to passing out, but her eyes stayed resolutely open until she saw Bakugo safe in the back of an ambulance. When she finally passed, she dreamed out what they would do for their date.


End file.
